There's a shortage of general practitioners , a shortage of on-call doctors , emergency rooms in peripheral health centers close on weekends, and there are no community homes or hospitals : the region is destitute. The health system is incapable of protecting its citizens. And often, not even its workers. No one can say whether the poor 46-year-old from Aritzo would have survived if he had received the immediate care he didn't find in his village when he fell ill. What is certain is that a center for 1,300 people in the mountains without basic healthcare (one of many on the island) is a frightening situation. It's happening in Barbagia and Sulcis, in the Oristano and Gallura regions: there are over 400 "shortages," and approximately 400,000 Sardinians are unserved.
The emergency is caused by a combination of a declining number of doctors, a high average age, and the exodus of young people. Over ten years, specialist doctors in Sardinia have decreased by 4.32% (from 4,255 to 4,071); general practitioners have decreased by 16% (from 1,147 to 961, from a ratio of 0.82 to 0.70 per thousand inhabitants); and pediatricians have decreased by 25% (from 187 to 140).
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